Covelo man arrested for beating father with water wand

Round Valley Tribal Police were alerted by community members to a 68-year-old man walking toward the Covelo post office with a bloody wound to his head and other injuries on the morning of November 27.

The man told Tribal Police Chief Carlos Rabano he had been beaten by his son at the home they shared. Rabano contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to investigate the incident.

While Rabano was talking with the victim, the victim's son arrived and attempted to intimidate his father into telling the police he had been injured in a fall. Dutifully, the father changed his story as instructed, say police.

The victim was taken to Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital for treatment. In the hospital, the victim told sheriff's deputies he had been making coffee that morning in the Howard Street residence he shared with his son when, without warning, Michael David Arnold, 46, attacked him from behind with a blunt object.

The victim suffered wounds to his head, back, shoulder, legs and left arm. He told police he was hit with a metal water wand made of rounded pipe.

Deputies went to the victim's residence and interviewed Arnold. At the residence they located the water wand allegedly used in the attack. The wand was deformed and had blood evidence on it, police say.

Arnold was arrested on suspicion of possession of a concealed dagger, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse resulting in great bodily harm.

Arnold was arraigned on November 29 on two counts of elder abuse and one count of assault with a deadly weapon.